PUBLIC SECTOR

2.3 million people sit test chasing 100,000 places, and country already canceled it once this year

India has decided to block messaging service Telegram for a few days to reduce the chance of scams targeting over two million people taking a single exam that has already provoked a national scandal.

The exam is called the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and is the only way to earn a place to study medicine in India. In most years, over two million people take the test – but only around 100,000 people earn a place in a medical school. Competition for those places is fierce, and student stress levels can be stratospheric.

India's National Testing Agency (NTA), which oversees entrance exams across India, conducted the 2026 NEET on May 3. A few days later, however, Indian netizens noticed Telegram posts dated May 1 that included footage of the NEET questions – suggesting the exam paper leaked.

NTA insisted the exam paper had not leaked before the test but also admitted the exam paper in the videos was legitimate. The agency was able to do so because the videos included a unique identifier on the paper that NTA used to identify the candidate associated with the paper shown in the video and the test center where it was used. NTA used its ability to trace the paper as evidence that it conducted the exam securely.

Officials have pointed out that Telegram allows users to edit posts without changing the date. A post dated May 1, then updated on May 4, could therefore include exam questions and appear to be a pre-exam leak – but would actually be an edited post.

In a separate incident, in the days after the May 3 test, netizens found a "guess paper" – an unofficial NEET exam created to help students revise for the test – that contained significant overlap with the actual questions asked in this year's test. NTA deemed the document sufficiently concerning that it annulled the test and rescheduled it for June 21.

NTA requested the Telegram ban ahead of the new test by asking the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to use its powers under the Information Technology Act. The testing authority wants the ban to prevent a repeat of the May mess, and also to stop scammers offering paid access to exam papers.

MeitY issued directions restricting access to Telegram from June 16 until June 22. The ministry also directed Telegram to disable message editing in India until June 30 to avoid the panic that followed the original exam.

India has in the past shut down internet access across entire cities during major exams, earning criticism due to the impact such outages have on the wider community.

NTA acknowledged the blast radius of its request, saying it "affects lakhs [hundreds of thousands] of citizens who use the Telegram platform for legitimate personal, educational, professional and informational purposes." The agency said it "sincerely regrets the inconvenience caused to them."

Lobby group the Internet Freedom Foundation has criticized the Telegram ban, saying it is unconstitutional and represents overreach.

"If the exam is secure and no leak exists, what is being suppressed is rumor, and rumor cannot justify closing a platform when specific blocking and criminal prosecution remain available."

India is not the only country to shut off internet access during exams. We've seen it happen in Syria and Sudan too. The Internet Society has condemned the practice.

"Internet shutdowns are never a proportionate response to anything, no matter how long they last," the nonprofit wrote in 2023. "Even if a shutdown were to prevent exam cheaters from communicating, it also prevents everyone else from using online services. It is not an effective anti-cheating mechanism, and it comes at a cost to all of society." ®